Motor vehicles are conventionally towed by a wrecker having towing equipment including a sling comprised of a pair of flexible sling belts. The upper ends of the sling belts are raised and lowered by a hoist mounted on the wrecker and the lower ends of the belts are connected to a transverse extending tow bar. A pair of spacer bars extend between the tow bar and the wrecker to position the sling belts rearwardly of the wrecker.
A vehicle to be towed is connected to the wrecker by sling chains which extend from the tow bar to slots provided in the floor pan of the towed vehicle just behind the front wheels. A wooden crossbeam is positioned across the sling chains and engages with the appropriate understructure of the vehicle such as a bumper impact bar or the radiator support. The wrecker hoist is then operated to raise the sling belts and tow bar so that the front end of the towed vehicle is lifted off the ground. The proper longitudinal positioning of the crossbeam assures that the sling belts will not bear with excessive loading upon the front end structure of the vehicle and abrade or otherwise damage the front end.
Many vehicles of modern manufacture have a front end structure such as a plastic bumper fascia which substantially overhangs the bumper impact bar or the radiator core support. Other vehicles have an aerodynamic air dam of flexible plastic underhanging the vehicle front end. Accordingly, conventional placement of the crossbeam against the radiator support or the radiator core support may result in a crossbeam location which results in the belt slings contacting the front end structure with such a degree of interference that abrasion or other damage to the front end structure may result. Furthermore, the crossbeam itself may have excessive interference with the air dam. Accordingly, it would be desirable to assure that the placement of the crossbeam will consistently and reliably route the belt slings for minimized interference with the front end structure of the towed vehicle.